People v. Jones
| Decision Date | 18 September 2020 |
| Docket Number | F075895 |
| Court | California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals |
| Parties | THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. STEPFON JONES, Defendant and Appellant. |
NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS
California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.
OPINIONAPPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Kern County. Gary T. Friedman, Judge.
Stephen Greenberg, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.
Xavier Becerra, Attorney General, Gerald A. Engler, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Michael P. Farrell, Assistant Attorney General, Carlos A. Martinez and Catherine Tennant Nieto, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.
-ooOoo- Stepfon Jones (appellant) was charged, in count 1, with premeditated murder (Pen. Code, § 187, subd. (a))1; in count 2, with assault on a child under eight resulting in death (§ 273ab, subd. (a)); and in count 3, with felony child endangerment (§ 273a, subd. (a)).
On September 14, 2015, the trial court granted defense counsel's motion to suspend criminal proceedings for a competency evaluation. On April 6, 2016, the trial court found appellant competent to stand trial and reinstated criminal proceedings.
In May of 2017, a jury found appellant guilty of counts 2 and 3, and the lesser offense of second degree murder in count 1. On June 27, 2017, the trial court sentenced appellant to 25 years to life in prison on count 2 and a consecutive six-year sentence on count 3. The trial court stayed the term of count 1, pursuant to section 654.
Appellant contends on appeal that the trial court erred when it : (1) unreasonably rejected expert opinion on his incompetency; (2) refused to give a consciousness of guilt instruction as to a witness; (3) allowed introduction of an uncharged act of elder abuse; (4) allowed introduction of appellant's un-Mirandized2 statement to a social worker; and (5) allowed the prosecutor to mischaracterize evidence. Appellant also contends (6) cumulative error and (7) lack of sufficient evidence to support his conviction for felony child endangerment. In supplemental briefing, appellant alleges (8) he is eligible for pretrial diversion pursuant to section 1001.36. We affirm.
On April 25, 2015, at approximately 9:30 p.m., two officers were dispatched to an apartment in Bakersfield where J.J. (mother) was trying to revive her four-month-old son, S., with CPR. S., who was not breathing and had no pulse, had a two-inch long oval-shaped bruise on his forehead above his left eye. When the officer asked what had happened, mother said she tried to take S. out of his swing to change his diaper andaccidently struck his head against the base of the swing, causing S. to have a seizure and stop breathing. The officer did not believe mother's story, knowing the injuries could not have happened as the result of an accidental bump on a baby swing. Fifteen minutes later, appellant arrived at the apartment.
At the time, mother and appellant lived together with their two-year-old daughter, Z., and infant S. in a two-bedroom apartment they shared with appellant's brother and his family. S. slept in a baby swing in the one bedroom, along with Z. on a mattress on the floor and mother and appellant shared a bed. Mother described appellant as happy about S.'s birth, but when he began to cry a lot at age two to three months, appellant became frustrated. When mother would pick S. up to comfort him, appellant would tell her to put him down and let him cry as "He's a boy," and "You're not supposed to hold him."
Testifying about the events before calling 911, mother stated that on the evening of April 24, 2015, she was home with the two children while appellant was out. S. had been running a slight fever and finally went to sleep. When appellant returned home at about 10:00 p.m., everyone was asleep and appellant went to bed. Around midnight, S. woke up and started screaming in pain. Mother got up, grabbed S. and tried to give him a pacifier and bottle. She rocked him and tried to distract him, but nothing worked. He eventually fell asleep and mother put him back in his swing. But 10 minutes later, S. woke again and began crying. Appellant told mother to "[s]hut him up" and make him be quiet.
Appellant then got up, shut the bedroom door and grabbed S. and started shaking him and telling him to "shut up." Mother yelled at appellant to stop, saying he was going to hurt S. and "kill him." But appellant did not stop, even though S. was no longer crying. Appellant dropped S. on the ground, and when mother went to pick him up, appellant pushed her away. He then kicked S., "[l]ike he was kicking a football", against the wall.
S.'s head hit the wall above the electrical outlet, and he fell onto the mattress where Z. was sleeping, which woke her. When mother picked S. up, his nose was bleeding uncontrollably and his head was not straight. Mother did not call 911, but as time passed, she told appellant they should take S. to the hospital. Appellant refused, saying he did not want people asking what had happened to S. He specifically instructed her not to tell the police what had happened.
Mother tried to take care of S., but he could not suck on a bottle and he breathed with difficulty. His fists were clenched and would not open. Although she knew she should take S. to the hospital, she did not because she was "scared."
The following morning, mother again told appellant they should take S. to the hospital, but he said that was "not going to happen." Appellant left with his brother later in the afternoon. He did not return. That night, S. stopped breathing and mother called 911. Law enforcement and paramedics arrived, administered CPR and transported S. to the hospital. Mother followed. Before departing, Mother told detectives she was picking up S. from a small baby swing and accidentally hit his head on one of the swing's arms.
At the hospital, Mother's grandmother advised mother to tell the truth, which she subsequently did by telling detectives what actually happened. Mother said she initially lied to officers about the incident because she was fearful that Child Protective Services (CPS) would remove Z. from her. Mother and appellant had both had prior incidents with CPS, and mother would be required to take parenting and substance abuse classes in order to keep her children.
Mother was charged with felony child abuse, but later entered into an agreement in which she pled no contest to the charge and received one year in jail and five years felony probation. As part of the agreement, she was required to testify against appellant at trial. On cross-examination, mother acknowledged that she, individually, had been investigated by CPS in December 2014.
As part of her testimony, mother testified that she and appellant had a difficult relationship and that he was often jealous if anyone would speak to her, he was physically abusive towards her, and he had also been physically abusive with Z., slapping and punching her on her arms, face, back and legs and telling her to "shut up." Mother did not report this behavior because she was scared of appellant. Mother had known appellant since she was 14 or 15; at the time of the fatal incident involving S., she was 19 years old. At times, mother would leave appellant but return when he promised to change. She reported him to the police in 2013 for abusing her and again in March of 2014. She estimated that, between early 2012 and April of 2015, appellant physically abused her on 20 or 30 separate occasions and hit Z. 10 to 20 different times.
Mother testified to an incident that occurred in August 2013 when she and Z. were staying with mother's grandmother. Appellant broke into grandmother's house, when he was drunk, in an effort to see mother and Z. During the incident, grandmother slipped on the front doorstep and fell. After mother helped grandmother up, appellant kicked the door as grandmother was trying to go back into the house, trapping her arm in the door frame as he did so. Mother and Z. hid from appellant in the bathroom, but appellant broke down the door, "nudged" mother's head and left. An officer who responded to the 911 call on the incident found grandmother's right wrist severely swollen and the metal security door indented, as if it had been kicked. The locking mechanism to the bathroom door had been ripped off. Appellant was subsequently convicted of elder abuse.
Grandmother testified that she had witnessed appellant act aggressive and controlling over mother. On one occasion, he came to her house and destroyed the front door to get mother's attention. Appellant called mother "very ugly" names and threatened both mother and grandmother.
The officer who responded to mother's 911 call in March of 2014, spoke to mother, who said appellant shoved her, slapped her, and pulled her hair as she was tryingto leave the apartment. The next day, appellant admitted to another officer that he had pushed mother once or twice during the argument.
Appellant's mother testified that she had called 911 in 2013 when she witnessed appellant hitting mother in the face and body after the two had an argument. The officer who responded to the scene viewed visible redness and swelling on mother's face.
Appellant's brother, who lived in the same apartment as mother and appellant, saw appellant push mother while the two were arguing, and had seen appellant "blow up" at mother on prior occasions.
An autopsy determined S. died from blunt force head and neck trauma. He had several fractures of the skull, suffered multiple hemorrhages underneath the scalp, and several retinal and optic nerve sheath hemorrhages confirmed he had been...
To continue reading
Request your trial